Mohegan Sun

Almost exactly a year ago, I was invited to visit Mohegan Sun for a weekend BBQ fest. Unfortunately, I went on my sabbatical shortly after – I was burnt out from daily blogging – and never posted about the experience. However, I was going through my photos recently and came across the ones from this trip, and remembered how thoroughly I enjoyed my experience that I want to share.

The view from my room

My very big room with a king size bed.

The cool bathroom and me being goofy

I was also invited to dine at one of the many restaurants at Mohegan Sun. If you’ve never been to Mohegan Sun, imagine Vegas – packed into one large complex. There’s a huge shopping hall downstairs, along with many restaurants, and the casinos. It’s actually a huge space – and I admit that I spent many, many days there, just after I turned 21 – because there are these nifty cheap buses that take you to the casino and pay for your lunch. Totally worth it – I used to go with my mom or my friends every other weekend, just for fun. I hadn’t been in a while before this trip, so a lot of new places had opened up inside…

For my meal, I went to Bar Americain and proceeded to gorge my fat little face 🙂

In the bread basket was this glorious jalapeno cornbread stick – which is funny because I’m not often a cornbread fan, but found myself really enjoying that.

Freshly shucked raw oysters with a delicious mignonette… yum

Lobster avocado cocktail that was resplendent with cilantro, piled high with delicious lobster, and perfectly seasoned.

Hamachi salad

Spicy tuna tartare

New England clam and sweet potato chowder – I admit, I was incredibly intrigued when I saw this item on the menu. When it came, I realized the sweet potatoes were blended into the broth, giving it this background sweetness and rich, thick mouth-feel that was… well, exceedingly pleasant. I thought this was one of the more creative ways I’ve seen sweet potatoes used, and really enjoyed the smoky sweetness of the chowder.

Grilled pizza with double smoked bacon, caramelized onions and toasted garlic – you may have realized by now that I wayyyyyyy over-ordered for one person. I was making a valiant effort, but I was struggling to keep up. In any case – I wound up eating this much later, but the flavors and the texture were all on point. I really enjoyed it, and while I wouldn’t consider this a ‘pizza’ by my definition, this was an excellent flatbread with delicious toppings.

Boston lettuce with bacon, poached egg and buttermilk blue cheese dressing – another item that I unfortunately had to eat later… but that egg was perfectly poached. So perfectly, I weep for me not being able to eat it the way it was intended to be enjoyed…

Buttermilk fried chicken with pink peppercorn honey… I was absolutely blown away by this dish. The fried chicken was tender, juicy, and while I appeared to be mostly eating white meat, it was so succulent… but the part that really blew my mind, that I went home and immediately Googled recipes, that I wanted to make right away? the chipotle honey served alongside… it was slightly spicy, but still sweet – slightly smoky, but just all delicious. The chicken didn’t need anything, but dipping the chicken in that honey just brought everything to new levels. I would put that honey on anything and eat it happily…

The meal was coming to an end, because I simply could not eat anymore.

Okay, I made room for a few bites of dessert. This was ridiculously good: some sort of donut that just blew my mind with its eclair-style taste and cream inside. YUM.

(Then I waddled upstairs with a huge bag of leftovers in my hand and took a long, long nap… after getting a million alerts that Johan Santana had just pitched the first no-no in Mets history. Sigh… unfortunately the channel airing it was not available to me in Connecticut! Boo!)

There’s also a Frank Pepe in Mohegan Sun now, so I had to give their famous clam pizza a try (the next day, not that very night!).

I went very, very classic and got a simple clam pie. The crust was ridiculously thin… and it was ridiculously tasty. I enjoyed my pie very much!

White birch soda offered at Frank Pepe… interesting.

I went home, completely relaxed and happy… and then my life changed forever the next day. But that’s a story for a very different type of blog. 🙂

I highly recommend anyone looking for a quick getaway, closer than Vegas, with lots of sparkle and bling, great food and a nice little gambling scene to head up to Mohegan Sun and check it out – you won’t be disappointed by the food or the scene. I think there’s also clubbing, but that’s definitely not my thing.

Please note that I stayed at Mohegan Sun and dined at Bar Americain courtesy of their PR firms. I received no monetary compensation to post about my experiences and do so – almost exactly a year later – of my own free will. This is my opinion.